Prince Charming or Prince Hateful?
by cowgirl158
Summary: Cara OC arrives on the Sunshine Islands after 2 years of travel, wanting to truly start over.So she naturally does the farthest thing from what her past suggests.She becomes a farm hand.VaughnxOCxWill.Rated T for Cara.The rest of the summary is inside.
1. Chapter 1: Meet Cara

Summary: Cara (OC) arrives on the Sunshine Islands after 2 years of travel, wanting to truly start over. So she naturally does the farthest thing from what her past suggests. She becomes a farm hand. But when the dark, rude and over all **hateful** animal dealer starts hanging around her, as well as that charming cousin of Sabrina's, can she really start over? And why does Sabrina's cousin seem so familiar?  
>Cara's POV<p>

I looked around myself and thought"Well, these islands certainly aren't much now but whatever, I'm sure it'll get better with time."Hello, my name is Cara von Duetch. I am 17 and I am **not** friendly. I am sometimes very cynical and I am almost **always **quiet. If I didn't know better I might have been able to blame that on my past. But no, I was born this way. I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way…. OH, sorry I tend to just drift off sometimes. Where was I? Oh yes, quiet. I used to think I was shy but then I started to think about it and realized that shy does not describe me at all. If you have angered me, you had better watch out. I have never been afraid to get my hands dirty, I never had the option to be, and if you unleashed me in a shopping mall and told me I could have whatever I wanted and not to trouble myself about the cost, I would be walking out of that place wearing sapphires and pearls set in silver with a pretty little evening gown on and the bags would be full of other such dresses, but they would also hold skinny jeans and tight t-shirts.

Oh I apologize, I was rambling again, wasn't I? Well if you're wondering what about my past led me here, it is, quite simply, a very long story. You have time, you say? Alright then, get comfortable and throw another log on the fire, we'll probably be here late into the night.

You see, I was raised in a very strict household, yet my sister and I still managed to sneak our little shenanigans past our mother. Our father was never home, as he worked grave-yard shifts as an air craft mechanic. But when he was home, he never did anything to stop our mother. A prime example of what he should have, but never did, stop would be the night I resolved myself to leave.

I came home one evening and told my mother that I had been asked out by a boy from the park group my sister and I hung out with sometimes on Wednesdays. I asked her permission to go to lunch with him that Saturday with Eliza, my sister, as chaperone. My mother promptly began to beat me. As I laid there that night on my bed, still bleeding and trying to stop the flow of tears, I thought about the last time this had happened. That didn't help, as the tears only increased at this. I had been shielding Eliza from my mother, yet again. That time I had not been bleeding. I whimpered quietly as a spasm of pain shot through my body when I attempted to sit up. This had been happening ever since my mother deemed me old enough to become her own personal slave. At first the beatings had been small, not enough to really slow me down the next day but enough to "teach me a lesson". When it kept getting worse and worse, I had told myself that it would be alright, she would mellow with age. But here I was, 8 years later, and she was showing no signs of slowing down. I ignored the pain that racked my body as I sat up and went to my desk. Lifting the false bottom in one of my drawers I take out my money and counted it. 600G. That should be enough to get me out of here or at least to pay a decent physician to care for my wounds. I was pretty sure she had broken my arm this time. I flicked on my dinosaur of a computer and began my work of finding the select few people who knew of my situation and had offered to help me as much as they could. It was time to test their resolve.

As I stood at the docks in the pitch black of midnight that Saturday, surrounded by all the people who had helped me get this far, I looked at everyone and, starting to cry again, I hugged everyone one last time.

" Are you sure you can't just hide at my house for a bit?" my friend Breanna begged me, teary-eyed.

"I'm sorry Brea, but you know she'd eventually look for me there." I whispered as I wrapped my free arm around her shoulders in a quick one armed embrace.

"You take care of yourself and make sure to call us when you're far enough away to slow down." Terry admonished me.

"I will, Mom, I promise." Terry had always been the mother I had longed after all my life and got mad when I called her Miss Terry like I had been taught.

"My cousin in Forget-Me-Not Valley will be waiting for you when you think you wanna try it out. For a change, you know." I smiled at Mathew, one of my almost-brothers, and told him it was good of him to set up a back-up plan for me. The captain who my friends had paid to smuggle me out in the dead of night came towards us and said sheepishly, "Well folks, if your done with your good-byes we should be heading out now, the tide is about to become favorable." I smiled at my friends one last time and followed the captain onto the boat. It had been decided that I could not and should not return to this land until I had come of age. That meant this would most likely be the last time I saw any of them. So I went to the railing as the captain stowed my bags in my small room below decks and waved at the small group of people on the docks until they could no longer be seen from the ship's deck. My friends, my saviors. They were now lost to me forever. I gripped the railing tightly as the tears slid down my face.

I've been spending the two years between then and now traveling. I did indeed go to the cousin in Forget-Me-Not for awhile. Jill taught me about farming and raising animals, but I couldn't stay with her, much as I would have liked to. It wasn't time for me to settle in one place yet. But when I saw the ad in the paper that morning in my room at the inn, I had known that this place in the ad, these Sunshine Islands, were both far enough and small enough to both hide and comfort me. I was actually excited to be a farm hand after my time with Jill. It was unusual for me to be excited or happy about anything since I left that night. You see, when the day dawned on the little boat next morning it found not the bruised and battered little runaway from the night before, but a cold, hard young teenage girl dressed in a black tank top and tight, black jeans, one arm in a sling and her shoulder length brown hair dyed an icy blue at the tips.

So it was that I looked when I got to Jill's farm after a few months travelling. By the time I left there though, the blue was gone from my hair and I had taken to braiding it simply so I could do my work while avoiding cutting it short. My hair now reached about halfway down my back and I still wanted it longer. A small form of rebellion against my parents, I suppose. That and getting the paper delivered to my room every day. You see, my mother always wanted me to bob my hair and she also didn't like to read the paper when she could just watch the news. So I did these little things to remind myself that my mother did not control me anymore.

I walked off along the beach after saying good-bye to the captain who had taken me everywhere with a harbor ever since the first time I set foot on his boat. This puzzled me greatly, as his obligation to me ended the second we got 2,000 miles from that dock. But no, he had followed where ever I led, sometimes sitting in port for months until I was ready to leave. I believe it might have been that I reminded him of his daughter, who had been lost at sea when she was around the age I was when I first started my wanderings. After my thought about the state of the islands I caught sight of someone coming toward me along the beach. I took a deep breath, pasted on my best "I'm a very nice person, really, I just have a hard time showing it" smile, and went to see if it was my new boss, Chelsea. As I got nearer I saw that the person was actually on a horse, a white horse, and was wearing white pants and a white suit jacket over an orange zip-up hoodie and a black v-neck.

_Thank you for reading this story. It's my very first work to ever be veiwed by someone not related to me, so if you could just leave a review and tell me what you think, that would be lovely. Should you feel as if you should flame me for some reason, please do it while logged in or leave an email adress so I can ask questions about why you felt you had to do that. My deepest thanks to all of you who did me the kindness of reading this, Cowgirl._

While the traffic on this story has pleased me greatly( 2 visitors from Ireland and one from Italy! I love those two countries, along with Scotland and Greece), I am not quite certain anymore, now that I have actually **posted** this story, if I can really continue it. I know that I ramble incomprehensivly at times, and while I try to avoid it as much as possible, at times it slips out and I can't figure out how to fix it, like when I was supossed to be describing Cara's past, I got rather off track. This concerns me greatly, and so I am now thinking of putting this story on hiatus and writing a self insert instead. If anyone could reveiw or message me and give me their thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2: Enter Chelsea

Cara's POV (until otherwise stated)

As I got closer I realized that this person was obviously not Chelsea, as they were male and had blonde hair. I had been told to look for a girl with brunette hair caught up in a red bandana. I approached the young fellow on the horse, hoping to ask directions to the farm, but also so that I could get a better look at the horse. At twenty feet, I saw the horse was a pure-bred Quarter Horse stallion, but at ten feet I saw traces of Arab in the face, with hints of Breton about the general build.

I also realized at ten feet that the rider wasn't half bad himself. In fact, with about three pitchers of beer and two tequilas, he might be bang-able, to say nothing of date-able. Hmm, was there even a bar around here? Alas, that very important question would have to wait, as Blondie-Bloke there had just hailed me.

"Hello there, I don't seem to remember seeing a lovely young lady such as you on these islands before. I hope you don't think I'm being nosy, my lady, but, might I ask why you are here?" Blondie was smiling at me in a friendly manner as he said this, but I was instantly on my guard. _Why did he seem so very familiar?_ I let my smile slide from its previous message to one that would never lead him to think anything strange of me. Anyways, _"lovely young lady"? _This lad was in for one heck of a wakeup call.

"Oh yes, it would be absolutely lovely if you could direct me towards the Star-Bright Farm, Mr. …?"I trailed off there, waiting for him to supply his name. He opened his mouth to respond but didn't manage to get anything out before he was cut off by a voice yelling. We both turned towards the voice to see a cheery looking brunette girl with a …. with a scarlet bandanna! I stepped around Mr. Blond-and-clueless and ran forward eagerly, hoping with all my being that my boss wasn't clueless as well.

"You must be Cara!" Chelsea exclaimed, beaming at me, putting her hands behind her back after giving me an excited hug that involved a lot of jumping about, "Oh, do you maybe… have some other clothes? You seemed quite knowledgeable when I spoke to you on the phone. I hope you don't plan on working in that type of thing." She had just noticed my frilly little white dress with the belt 'round the middle, from the look of confusion on her face. I laughed and said "Oh, don't worry! This is just my favorite travelling dress. My working attire is much more practical. In fact, I think you'll find I hardly seem the same when I've changed later." Unfortunately for my unsuspecting new employer, I really honestly meant that.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon. If I did, you would be able to customize your character.**

I apologize for both the shortness of the chapter and the slowness of its posting. Excuses are pointless, therefore I offer none. Please, if you could spare the time, there is a poll on my profile that I would like some results from before I write the next chapter. Cowgirl


	3. Chapter 3: I See What You Mean

I stood in the center of the room and looked around. A plain bed, a nightstand next to the bed, a wooden dressing cabinet, a desk and a chair were the only pieces of furniture adorning the smallish room. All of the furnishings seemed to be made of a light oak or pine. The floor and the walls seemed to be made of the same. However, any shortcomings in the furniture were quickly overcome by the fact that any little detail in the room that could easily have the color changed, had been changed to a very light, soft baby blue. Blue being my favorite color, this made me crack a grin the size of a melon.

I turned to Chelsea, who was standing in the doorway, having just led me to the room which I was to occupy while I worked here, "This room is perfect!" I walked over to the desk, across the blue throw rug, and gently stroked a finger across the petal of the gently blue flower that was sitting on said desk. "I'm glad you like it," Chelsea said, smiling, as I crossed the room and sat on the blue coverlet.

"Well, I'll just leave you to get settled and change before dinner." Chelsea's cheery voice snapped me out of the daze I had drifted into as I sat, trying to decide whether or not to ask Paolo, my boat captain, if I could maybe have that gorgeous little painting that had been in my cabin on the boat. I had grown quite fond of it in the months I had spent on that ship.

"Quite right, I'll be out there shortly," I managed with a small smile before Chelsea, beaming, closed the door behind her and hurried off to make dinner. _I think I'll be able to manage quite well here, _I thought to myself as I hung up my clothes in the cabinet. As I continued unpacking, my mind drifted back to the beach earlier today.

Chelsea laughed, still beaming at me. I realized she probably didn't get what I was trying to say, but so few people did, when I even bothered myself with attempting to warn them, that I decided to just let it slide. She'd find out soon enough.

She appeared to be no more than twenty years of age. She was slight of build, and her chestnut brown hair was a bit past her thin shoulders. Her eyes of brightest blue looked like they had never done anything but smile. If I had to guess from her present demeanor, I would say she was one of those people who was perpetually cheery and could almost never be angered. I smiled inwardly. She seemed to be just the sort of person I was looking for. Someone who would notice immediately if I was surlier than usual, who would force me to be in better spirits simply by being themselves.

We both turned, a little surprised and _a_ _lot_ embarrassed, as we were brought to the realization that we had completely forgotten Blondie when he cleared his throat. Chelsea gave an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of her neck as she said to him, "Oh, sorry," his horse snorted as she said his name," my bad. This is Cara, she's going to be my new farmhand." I was a little annoyed that I hadn't been able to hear his name, but I decided to ignore it. I'd have plenty of chances to hear it later.

"Ah, so that's what she was doing on the beach by herself." He smiled with these words. "Well, we'd better get going if we're going to get home by dark." Chelsea excused us and tugged gently on my arm. I followed her up the path, wondering about Blondie-Boy.

I finished putting my things away in various places about the room and grabbed my work clothes. As I looked down at the black skinny jeans and fitted, cap-sleeve shirt, I realized it had been quite some time since I had had occasion to wear these, much less my black riding hat with the scrolling silver trim about the brim and my black, high-top boots. I pulled on the almost pure black outfit and slipped on my boots. I also usually wore a worked leather belt to keep my pants from sliding too much. They weren't really as tight as they looked, and when I worked they loosened considerably. I looked in the small mirror by the door and jerked back as I realized how badly I needed a haircut. My braided hair was simply too long to look good when I was wearing my work clothes. Ah well, it would have to wait.

I stepped out and closed the door to my room snugly behind me. The smell of stew was wafting down the hallway, pulling me to the kitchen. My nose held high, the better to see if I could smell what variations had been made to the stew, I entered the kitchen to see Chelsea ladling out two bowls of the stuff.

"Is that Mountain Stew?"

"Yes indeedy!" Came the chipper answer. We sat down and, surprisingly, ate the meal in silence. I had thought Chelsea might try to make conversation. "So, what'll be my work?" Chelsea looked up from her stew with a look of mild surprise. It was no wonder, as I had already slipped into work mode, which meant that my voice had become quieter and rougher. A lot of times, people would describe me as an anti-social cowgirl. Those were the people I worked with though. The people I _liked_ usually said that I was somewhat like a mustang, wild and hard to get to trust you at first, but fiercely loyal and affectionate when that trust was gained.

"Well, I was thinking of having you take care of the livestock and, when it comes around to it, help with the planting, if that's okay with you. Maybe help me with clearing the field in the winter." I nodded my head.

"Sounds good. Do you want me to ship all the produce from the animals or hold some back for the house?"

"Umm, I'm not sure. That will probably be a day-to-day sort of thing, but I think it would be best if you just shipped it unless I ask for some to be held back."

"A'ight. I think I'll head to bed now." She nodded and I stood, placed my bowl and spoon in the sink, and turned towards the door. "Goodnight." I added as an afterthought. "Goodnight." Chelsea replied softly.

Next morning, I was up with the sun. My clothes were pretty similar to last night, the only real change being that I was now wearing a blue T-shirt that made one think of a deep, clean river. I opened my door to find Chelsea, with her hand raised as if she had been just about to knock.

"Oh, good morning! I see you're up already."

"Yeah, G'morning. And of course I'm up, I got to go feed everythin' afore breakfast, don't I?" was my ever so polite reply.

"Wha..? Oh no, I'm not expecting you to-"she was cut off by me raising my hand. "The way I do things is based off the idea that you get everything done earlier rather than later, that way you got some time to relax before it's time to go into town. That's how I was taught and that's how I work best, so if you'll excuse me, I'll go feed now." I stepped past her into the hall. "And if it'll make you feel better, I'll do the milking and the brushing _after_ breakfast." I added, for she still had that look on her face that said she wasn't too happy with this.

I crossed the large field, skirting the boulders and the stumps, and leaping over the smaller rocks and branches. This was going to be ugly to clear later, but at least it didn't look like I would have to pull too many weeds. I **hated **pulling weeds. I reached the barn and stepped inside. It now appeared to me that Chelsea must have been on this island a **long** time and must have been doing **very** well before she decided to seek an extra helper. This knowledge was brought to my attention by the dozen or so cows and sheep that filled the barn. If I had to bet, I would say the coop next to the barn was at full capacity as well, to say nothing of the stable I had spotted by the entrance to Ranch Island.

Shaking my head, I went to the feed dispenser and started pulling out bushels of feed. Once I finished with the barn, it was time to take care of the chickens. Sure enough, I walked in to be greeted by a little beady eye peering sleepily at me from every single corner of the coop. I started spreading the feed around, but suddenly the thing I could see was white. Apparently, feeding was the only thing that could wake them up. I gasped as a beak bit into my hand. Next second, the flock of birds had scattered as I kicked blindly in the direction the peck had come from. I looked around and saw a little Silkie rooster, glaring at me defiantly. "So you think you can show me whose boss, huh? Well, I got news for you kiddo." I stooped and picked it up. It squawked and flapped its little wings indignantly. "It ain't you!"

Once I had finished with the animals, I knew it was time to face Chelsea. I had started the day off on a somewhat rude note. I knew she would want answers sooner or later. I walked through the door and hung my hat on the hook by the door. I could smell bacon and eggs and pancakes. Chelsea's head popped out of the kitchen.

"Oh, you're done already? Well, that's probably a good thing, 'cause the pancakes are almost done. Would you mind watching the bacon for me?" I nodded and stepped over to the stove. "I see what you meant yesterday." Chelsea commented ten minutes later, as we were eating our bacon and pancakes. I looked up, a slightly surprised look on my face. Chelsea didn't seem to notice as she kept eating with her head down and said "The comment you made at the beach, about how you'd hardly seem the same once you'd changed clothes. You were right, it's hard to see that the person sitting in front of me is the same girl I picked up at the beach earlier." I just looked at her for a moment. She looked up and smiled at me. "Don't worry, this doesn't change anything. You still have a job here and you still get paid the same amount we agreed on. Actually, I think we should discuss your pay. You work a lot harder than I expected. I was thinking that rather than the 15,000 G a month we agreed on, a good 25,000 G would be better." I stared at her. 25,000 G? That was a lot of money. "I hardly think getting up and feeding 2 hours earlier warrants a 10,000 gold raise."

"Well, maybe it doesn't, but I think that you'll end up exceeding a lot of the other expectations I had. Come on, by the time you finish with the rest of the animal care, I should be done with the watering, and we can go in to town and I can introduce you to the rest of the villagers." Chelsea stood and we cleared the breakfast dishes. I went and set about finishing my chores. As I stood in the coop and held the little rooster from before, I realized that I was actually nervous to meet the people in this town. I wanted them to like me. I wanted to stay in this town and make friends. It would be nice to settle down and stay in one place longer than a few months. _Actually_, I thought, stroking the little rooster, whose name I had found to be Jamie, _I think the last time I stayed for more than three months was Jill's place. I wonder how she's doing? Maybe I should send her a letter. _I set Jamie on the ground and went to hold the last chicken in the coop to require attention. After this, it was time to head to town.

_I think that before I post another chapter, I would like for the number of reviews to match or exceed the number of chapters. I feel so excited, this chapter is almost as long as the other two combined. It is my hope that you who are reading this enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. I am on vacation at the moment, so I might be able to get another chapter up by the time I go home to resume my duties on Wednesday. Who knows, I might be in a writing mood on my birthday tomorrow. _

_Many thanks to Magiclicious1348 for giving me the encouragement necessary for this chapter. I swear I really was going to upload it, but stuff got in the way. Honestly folks, it doesn't take much to get me writing. One little reveiw. If you review my story, I will go and reveiw one of your stories. Magic, your's is coming soon, I promise._


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